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Remembering Earth Day: The Struggle over Public Memory in Virtual Spaces

Damman, Jessica
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1307320285

Abstract Details

2011, MA, University of Cincinnati, Arts and Sciences: Communication.
Over the past forty years, individuals and groups have remembered Earth Day in various ways. This thesis project focuses on the public memory of Earth Day, seeking to understand how different groups have promoted particular pasts for present interests. Public memory scholars broadly define public memory as the reconstitution of particular memories in order to meet the goals and interests of the present and the future. The memories crafted by two broad groups on the Internet are analyzed: official instances of public memory from government organizations and vernacular instances of public memory from environmentalist groups. This project argues that a historical account of Earth Day set in a scene of visible pollution with the need for institutional actors and actions was employed by official and vernacular memories in order to meet their particular interests. The analysis highlights that official memory used the historical account of Earth Day to shift the locus of responsibility for continued environmental change to individuals who are constituted as consumers. Vernacular memory attempts to subvert official memory by creating an activist subject position where individuals can hold institutions accountable for environmental injustices. As different needs and desires arise for the public memory of Earth Day, various groups have refashioned the messages of Earth Day to meet their evolving needs and desires.
John Lynch, PhD (Committee Chair)
Stephen Depoe, PhD (Committee Member)
Eric Jenkins, PhD (Committee Member)
124 p.
Communication
Earth Day; Public Memory; Environmental Communication; Constitutive Rhetoric

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Damman, J. (2011). Remembering Earth Day: The Struggle over Public Memory in Virtual Spaces [Master's thesis, University of Cincinnati]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1307320285

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Damman, Jessica. Remembering Earth Day: The Struggle over Public Memory in Virtual Spaces. 2011. University of Cincinnati, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1307320285.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Damman, Jessica. "Remembering Earth Day: The Struggle over Public Memory in Virtual Spaces." Master's thesis, University of Cincinnati, 2011. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1307320285

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

ucin1307320285
541
© 2011, some rights reserved.Creative Commons License Remembering Earth Day: The Struggle over Public Memory in Virtual Spaces by Jessica Damman is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. Based on a work at etd.ohiolink.edu.
This open access ETD is published by University of Cincinnati and OhioLINK.